Everton (5)1-1(6) Southampton: Match Recap | The bleakness continues
09/17/2024 04:57 PM
Just when you think they have hit rock bottom...
Hello darkness my old friend.
Everton's season just continues to get worse after a miserable penalty shootout defeat to Southampton - the last ever League Cup match at Goodison Park.
Ashley Young was the player to miss, with the Saints winning 6-5 to reach the fourth round.
The 90 minutes that preceded were not much better either. Two much-changed sides struggled to created many openings. Everton had the better chances, but Southampton dominated possession, with the result a horrible stalemate.
Everton made eight changes from the weekend defeat at Aston Villa, with Orel Mangala Jake O'Brien and 17-year-old academy graduate making their first starts. Roman Dixon also came in for just his second start, as did Jesper Lindstrom.
Everton began brightly, with Beto having an early effort from a tight angle blocked by goalkeeper Alex McCarthy.
They opened the scoring when a far post corner was kept in by O'Brien, Michael Keane headed towards goal and Abdoulaye Doucoure nodded the ball over the line from close range.
It should have been 2-0 when a lovely flowing move saw Lindstrom played in on goal, but he was so desperate to get the ball on his right foot he opened his body up and lost balance, with his shot lacking power.
Not for the first time the Toffees paid the price for not taking their chances. After Ryan Fraser was wiped out by Dixon, a Saints free-kick from the right was headed home by the unmarked Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
Everton went into the break having had just 22.7% of the ball, which even against a possession-based team like Southampton is a pretty dire statistic.
Lindstrom was guilty of another bad miss at the start of the second half when he ran on to Beto's lovely flick, but his effort was well saved by McCarthy.
The Goodison crowd became increasingly restless and voiced their frustration when Dyche opted to take off striker Beto and replace him with full-back Young. It meant Iliman Ndiaye was pushed up front but it still came across as a negative substitution at a time when Everton needed to score.
Everton did improve in the closing stages, with Ndiaye having a goal correctly ruled out for offside and Dwight McNeil having an effort deflected over, with Tim Iroegbunam heading over from the resulting corner.
Tyler Dibling very nearly won it for Southampton in the 90th minute with a mazy run and shot that went just over. But they did not have to wait much longer to secure the victory, as Everton's season continues to spiral.
